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HOUNSLOW-H EA TH, 

By the Rev. W, WILKES. 
1748. 



HO UNSL W- HE A TH. 

A 

POEM. 

The SECOND EDITION. 

Carefully CORRECTED AND ENLARGED. 



Venatii vigilant ptteri, sylvasqiie fatigant 
Flectere ludis eqiios, et spicida tendere cornu 

Coiivectare juvatque prsedas 

ViRG. iEn. 9. 

En, age, segues 



Riwipe moras ; vocat ingenti clajnore Ciihceron 
Taygetiqiie canes, domitrixqtce epidanrns eqttorum, 
Et vox sensn nemoru7n ingeminata renuc^it. 

ViRG. GeOR. 3. 



By the Rev. Mr. Wetenhall Wilkes, M.A. 

Minister of the chapel at Hotmslow, in the patronage of Richard Bulstrode, Esq. 



\ Privately re-printed, in aid of the funds collected for the restoration of 
Hounslow Church, by William Pinkerton, P.S.A., F.A.S.L., who has added 
some notes 011 the locality?^ 



ONLY ONE HUNDRED COPIES PRINTED. 

LONDON: ''. 
JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADILLY. 
1870. 






205449 
'13 



INTRODUCTION. 




MONG my collections for illustrating 
the history of printing in the town 
of Belfast, I have a book entitled 
^^ An Essay on the Existence of a God',' by 
Wetenhall Wilkes, Sub. Gra., Belfast, 1730. 
And I was much surprised at meeting with 
the same man again, as '* Minister of the Chapel 
at Hounslow," and author of the poem called 
" Hounslow Heath'' at the end of which he 
acknowledges the authorship of the Essay. 
The poem is of a very mediocre description, 
but I determined to privately reprint it, as a 
literary curiosity, forming a vehicle for some 



( 6 ) 
miscellaneous notes I have collected about the 
locality, and as my contribution towards the 
proposed restoration of Hounslow Church. 

Of Wilkes I know almost nothing. There 
is a short '' Essay on the Resurrection'' at the 
end of the above-mentioned ''Essay on the 
Existence of a God',' and an introduction to it 
is dated Carrickfergus, 1729 ; probably he was 
curate there, but nothing is known of him in 
that locality now. From the letters Sub. Gra. 
after his name, I conclude that he was Under 
Graduate of some University, but in the lists 
of both Oxford and Cambridge his name is 
absent. In the Catalogue of Graduates of the 
University of Dublin, compiled by my late 
lamented friend, the Rev. J. H. Todd, D.D., 
Senior Fellow, the name of Wilkes is also 
absent ; but the books of the junior graduates 
are unfortunately missing from March, 1 7 1 7, to 
January, 1718, which must have been about 



( 7 ) 
the time that Wilkes entered that Universit}^^ 
For there is no doubt that he entered it, and 
I may presume that he was named after Ed- 
ward Wetenhall, who, from 1678 to 1699, was 
successively Bishop of Cork, Ardagh, and Kil- 
more. He did not stay long at Hounslow, for I 
see by the twentieth volume of the Gentlemafi s 
Magazine, that he was preferred to the Rectory 
of South Summer Court, in Lincolnshire, in 
April, 1750, where he did not live a year, 
having died, according to Musgrave's MS. 
Obituary, on March 25th, 1751. 

William Pinkerton, F.S.A., F.A.S.L. 




AN 

EPISTLE 

To His GRACE the 

Duke of A ZZ/'^) 

With the SECOND EDITION of 

HOUNSLOW-HEA TH. 



Nee minus considerabo quod aures tuce pati possint^ quam quod 
virtutibus debeatur. CiC. Orat. 




ESCEND, Great Sir, accept my humble 
strains, 
And nobly grace my musical remains ! 
Though to your taste sublimer lays belong. 
With favour yet indulge my labour'd song. 
Fain would the Muse make choice of your great 

name. 
To be her patron, ornament, and theme. 



( lO ) 

Cherish'd by you, her tributary lays 
In time would swell, and ripen into praise. 
Her tuneful toils no trivial subject claims, 
At no ignoble flight her purpose aims : 

She sings not slaughter'd heaps no horrid fights, 

But rural sports, and innocent delights. 

Soon as th' arrival of your Grace * was hear'd, 
A rising gladness all our spirits cheer'd : 
With heart and voice we Providence address, 
To bless that life, which does so many bless. 
The Muse attempts your safe approach to greet. 
And lay this early homage at your feet. 
Her just concern does in your absence shew, 
Th' intense regard we to your presence owfe. 

For you she strikes the warbling lyre, to you 

Her honest songs of gratitude are due. 

Thou God of Numbers, touch the warbling lyre, 
And with thy rays my rural song inspire ! 

Sing A irs name, who does thy glories raise, 

Whose name adorns and dignifies my lays ! 
Arm then, thou queen of verse, the task to try ; 
Turn to th' inviting theme thy daring eye ; 
Where goodness smiles, where loyalty is grac'd, 
With sweetness, candour, and the finest taste ; 



* At London, on the 51;h of Nov., 1748, from a long journey, 
and after several months absence. 



( II ) 

With friendship, justice, and benevolence, 

Extensive knowledge, and the soundest sense ; 

With honour strict, sincerity of mind, 

With love of industry, — with truth refin'd, 

With unaffected air, with grace serene, 

The patriot blazons throughout all his mein ; 

In ev'ry scene well qualified to please, 

To act at once with dignity and ease ; 

A friend to liberty, and sacred right, 

Albania s glory, Britain s true delight. 

Forgive, Great Sir, these truths, — but then to you. 
All this applause, and more, is justly due. 
With ev'ry social virtue thou art fir'd, 
With ev'ry elegance of soul inspir'd. 
In you transfus'd great CampbelVs spirit reigns, 
And unmix'd honour swells in all your veins. 
Those rich, innate embellishments make good, 
Th' hereditary worth of noble blood ; 
That you was bom o'er senates to preside, 
To be your country's ornament and pride ; 
To raise her dignities, defend her laws, 
And crown yourself with well-deserv'd applause. 

Possessing all the present age's fame. 
The scholar's sanction, and the Muse's theme ; 
With pow'r enrich'd, in health and balmy peace,, 
(Divine companions !) may your years increase ; 



( 12 ) 

And may you stand possest of every grant, 
That Heav'n can give, or mortal being want. 

I am^ 

Your Graces most dutiful^ 

And most obedient servant y 

Wetenhall Wilkes. 

Hounslow^ 
Nov. 14, 1748. 




HOUNSLOW - HEA TH, 



POEM. 




ET plodding cits, great sir, indulge their 
vein; 
And, ever anxious in pursuit of gain, 
'Midst smoke and noise drudge on in anxious 
care, 
While in stagnation sleeps the lazy air. 
Let giddy crowds in nightly revels sport, 
And feast on all th' illusive joys at Court ; 
In museful solitude whilst I prepare, 
An humble off'ring for the good and fair : 
And you, great sir, from toil of State retir'd. 
Deign to attend the song yourself inspir'd. 



( 14 ) 

Assist, ye sacred Nine, the sports rehearse 
Of HoMislow Heath"^ — a word not seen in verse ; 
Hounslow — unknown to all the tuneful throng, 
A place ne'er mention'd in descriptive song ; 
Presumes to vie, though not in equal strains, 
Or with the Roman, or Thessalian plains. 
Pure is the air, the prospects unconfin'd ; 
And various are the sports f unbend the mind. 
Shall ancient Hounslow then be lost to fame. 
And dull oblivion desecrate the name ? 
No — from the Nine we this advice receive. 
That in their records, Hounslow' s name shall live. 

Hail happy scene, secure from factious noise. 
From pomp, from cares, from all delusive joys ; 
From all expensive, criminal intrigues. 
From levee, court, and drawing-room fatigues ; 
Where sloping glades extend their length'ning lines, 
Where Nature drest in gay disorder shines ; 
Where spacious valleys part the mighty mounds. 
And heathy shrubs o'erspread the tufted grounds ; 
Where verdant lawns fill up the space between. 
And beauteous seats adorn th' extensive green ; 
Where soaring larks awake the dewy plains, 
And tempt the Muse to sing the rural scenes ; 
Where wilds present a wide extended view. 
Far as the circling eyesight can pursue. 

* Hounslow Heath, in the county of Middlesex, 4293 acres 
and upwards, I Stat. 37 //. 8, 2. 



( 15 ) 

The sports Ro7ne boasted here may be renew'd, 
And every Roman exercise pursued. 

Four large patrician (^) elms behind the town 
(True as a beacon to the trav'ler known) 
Their lofty boughs with ancient pride display, 
And to fair Whitton point the cheerful way, 
Calliope first strikes the vocal shell, 
To sing those scenes, where peace and grandeur dwell. 

Whitton demands her verse the Nine conspire. 

To swell my numbers with poetic fire. 

There Nature's genial pow'rs impregn the ground, 

And all her fragrant sweets are spread around. 

(Sweetest of birds !) there Philomela charms 

The list'ning shade, and midnight hour alarms. 

There should my wonder dwell, and there my praise. 

Should soar sublime, and flow with tuneful ease. 

A //to native elegance of mind. 

Has contemplation and experience join'd ; 
Unblemish'd honour, tenderness of heart ; 
Candour, and wisdom, well improv'd by art ; 
A firm, unshaken, uncorrupted zeal, 
Not vainly blazing for his country's weal ; 
But steady, bold, and regularly free. 
For Britain s glory, and for liberty. 
Nor is he skill'd in awful schemes alone. 
To serve his king, and to defend the throne. 



( i6 ) 

His bosom, which pure principles refine, 
Still labours glorious with some great design. 
With Truth exalted, all his words display, 
Unstudied humour, ever kind and gay. 

O fit to shine in Courts — to rule the State, 
Or to appear in soft retirement — great ! 
Thy patriot virtues, and exalted mind. 
With goodness in sweet harmony combin'd^ 
With unaffected grace are so display'd — 
The statesman casts not o'er the friend a shade : 
Hence is the Muse ambitious of thy name, 
T' inspire — to grace — to dignify her theme. 

Two miles from Hounslow, tow'rds the west is plac'd, 
With all the beauties of retirement grac'd, 
A grand and rural seat in Berkeley fam'd. 
Gay Crantford's Castle by the Muses nam'd : 
Where Health*s preserved in unpolluted air ; 
Where smiling Peace extirpates ev'ry care ; 
Where Amalthea holds her golden horn. 
And brisk diversions 'wake with ev'ry morn. 

From naval toils the hero here retir'd, {c) 
Smil'd on the glories Victory had acquir'd. 
From many tempests — many fights sustain'd. 
With dignity enjoy 'd what valour gain'd. 
Fix'd in the records of undying Fame, 
To latest ages lives great Berkeley's name. 



( 17 ) 

From him, my lord, such honours you derive, 
As a true son of glory still survive ; 
Heir of his titles, fortune, every grace, 
Requlr'd to fill the worthy patriot's place; 
As Aristides just, with sense refin'd. 
Sincere, plain-hearted, and secure of mind ; 
With Wit well guarded, with Politeness grac'd, 
To give society its highest taste. 

Here golden Plenty blooms — here sacred Peace 
Is always favour'd with a rich increase. 
Here all serene, In sweet retirement plac'd, 
Life incorrupt, and joys unmlx'd you taste. 
Thus blest with smiling Heaven's indulgent store, 
'Twould scarce be just to ask — to wish for more : 
Yet more the Deity propitious gives. 
To bless the mansion, where your consort lives ; 
Richly improv'd, where native goodness reigns, 
And every female grace adorns the scenes. 
Smooth as the gentle stream her passions flow ; 
Her words the language of her bosom show. 

Behold two Infant sons of chaste delight, 
In every grace, in every beauty bright : 
In them may all those excellencies shine, 
That have distinguish'd hitherto your line ! 

Before the front, a swelling river glides ; 
A lofty bridge bends o'er its rising sides. 



( i8 ) 

A winding vale the peaceful flood receives ; 

And here the stream its glassy bosom heaves. 

The broad-spread breams, and red-finned roaches here. 

With bright-eyed perch, and spangled trout appear : 

Dace, gudgeon, golden carp, and silver eel. 

The deep recesses of the flood conceal. 

Fixing to bearded hooks the treach'rous baits. 

With trembling line the patient angler waits. 

The springing fish divide the crystal flood. 

And leap at death in greedy gust of food. 

Clandestine nets the fleaky jack surround. 

Prince of the finny troops, that here abound. 

In various distant ponds the scaly prey. 

All o'er the heath, within their prisons play ; 

And many streams in winding channels sweep. 

To seek insensibly the swelling deep. 

Hence should I wander o'er the southern plain. 
Two lonely miles — t' indulge my pensive vein ; 
I might regale with true benevolence. 
With candour, friendship, and with solid sense."^ {d) 
Thither some few of genius oft retire. 
Or blythe or solemn, as their themes inspire. 
There with selected, social, honest friends. 
The man of taste an evening often spends. 
There unreproving mirth, and wit refin'd. 
Call decent laughter forth, with temp'rance join'd. 

• s U U— 11, Esq. 



( 19 ) 

Mechanic art there forms the nitrous grain, 

The dread of treach'rous France and boastful Spain. 

Near to the town, behold a spacious course, {e) 
The scene of trial for the sportive horse. 
With tall, white posts the ample circuit's grac'd. 
Of equal size at proper distance plac'd. 
The neighing coursers pant in ev'ry vein ; 
Champ on the bit, and paw the grassy plain. 
Stripp'd of 'their cloths, in order they advance : 
Quick beats the drum, — when ardently they prance. 
Away they start and sweep the circly mound. 
Scarcely imprint the surface of the ground : 
With eager speed as swift they stretch along, 
The plain rolls back behind the giddy throng. 
Th' expanse receives th' alarms of ev'ry heat ; 
And echoing vales promiscuous shouts repeat. 

Here soar aloft the sweet setherial train, 
And safely wander through the azure plain. 
O'er nature's common, free from ev'ry care, 
The tuneful songsters skim the passive air. 
'Midst dawning clouds the sky-lark mounting sings. 
While the gay squadrons plume their painted wings. 
The black-bird, whistling on the thorny bush, 
Answers the mellow bull-finch, and the thrush. 
Join'd in wild concert, then their warbling throats. 
Run o'er a sweet variety of notes : 
But over all the kind, contending throng. 
The tuneful thrush and wood-lark raise their song. 

2 — 2 



( 20 ) 

When nought but balm is breathing thro' the woods, 
In evenings mild — when zephyrs curl the floods ; 
The nightingale repeats her plaintive song, 
In list'ning fancy's ear resounding long. 
With soft, mellifluous, melancholy strains, 
The sweetly tortur'd heart she entertains. 
With sympathetic grief the feather'd throng, 
In silence wrapt, admire th' enchanting song. 
Sad sitting on some solitary tree, 
The wood-dove murmurs out her partner's elegy. 

The gaudy-wing'd musicians charm the woods, 
While larger wild-fowl sport about the floods. 
In safe retreat they on the surface play. 
Till from the fowler's view they wing their way. 
The wild-ducks, pendant o'er the dimpling stream. 
Their mossy domes in artful manner frame. 
With scarlet eyes the pheasant often strays. 
And whirs across the russet lonely maze. 
Long-beak'd Curlieus, and easterlings are seen, 
And winding snipes, to flutter o'er the green. 
Should some rude foot their heathy haunts molest, 
Alarm'd, the mother soon forsakes her nest. 
The white wing'd plover wheels her sounding flight ; 
Yet keeps her helpless family in sight. 

In full career the setter beats the field, 
Where circling covies, lurking, lie conceal'd. 
In the rough stubbles, — by the tainted gale. 
That meets his scent along the ridgy vale. 



( 21 ) 

Alarm'd, with caution struck, out-stretch'd he lies, 
With Hft-up nose he points the latent prize ; 
Until the plumy group entangled beat 
With useless, languid wings, the meshy net. 
The thund'ring sport of guns are heard around " 
The dogs, impatient, at the firing bound : 
Th' alluring gins, and treach'rous nets no less, 
The footed and the feather'd game distress. 

Here clam'rous troops of teal and wigeon rise ; 
And cackling flocks, like clouds, obscure the skies. 
While some, in airy legions, take their flight, 
Others, not able to o'ercome the fright. 
Leave not their tender and unfeather'd care, 
But, flutt'ring round them, hover in the air, 
In long excursion, then they wing their way, 
To lead the poacher and his dog astray. 

When the sky reddens with departing light. 
And pearly dews proclaim th' approach of night ; 
The clouds with golden edges float along, 
And safe retreats conceal the plumy throng. 

Here from the heath the black-tail'd moorcock (/) 
springs, 
And slowly moves his wet incumber'd wings ; 
Till from some hostile tube a shower of lead, 
Breaks forth in fire and smoke, and strikes him dead. 
The shudd'ring pout with wings expanded lies ; 
Draws to his breast his feet, and springing dies. 



( 23 ) 

When in the blush of morn fresh breathing gales, 
In wanton whispers skim along the vales ; 
Rous'd by the cock, the soon-drest shepherd {g) leaves 
His peaceful cottage — and to pasture drives 
His folds, to taste the verdure of the morn ; 
And farmers rise to guard their ripening corn. 

The studious mind starts from the bed of sloth, 
T' enjoy the cool and silent hour, — still loth 
To lose the time to meditation due. 
When ev'ry friendly muse invites him too. 
Then his soft lyre the god of seasons sings. 
And ev'ry change a change of rapture brings. 

Mary,^ well harden'd to the morning air. 
Now with delight surveys her feather'd care. 
With early thrift she tends her home-bred flock 
Of cackling pullets round the crested cock ; 
Where all are pleas'd, and pecking by his side, 
And each desirous to become his bride. 
If with his happy claws he springs a grain. 
He to his fav'rite hen presents the gain ; 

Yet all with gallant freedom debonair. 

With equal ease, his equal favours share ; 
And ev'ry morn their grateful tribute pay. 
To her that duly feeds them ev'ry day. 

The ducks and geese upon the liquid plain. 
Move slow before their downy, chirping train, 
* Any farmer's wife. 



( 23 ) 

Protective of their new-hatch'd tender young. 

With watchful eye, superb they sail along : 

With equal care, the hardy turkeys hatch ; 

With equal pains their puny brood they watch. 

The redd'ning cock, with strides and threatenings loud, 

Chudders defiance, — looks as Cizsar proud, 

The gaudy peacock spreads his various tail. 

And seems in awful majesty to sail 

When night's involving shade bids Hodge^ repair 
Homeward, from penning up his fleecy care ; 
Or from the labours of the wounded field, 
(Where nature's genial bounty lies conceaFd) 
Or when to fodder, from the naked plain, 
He whistling drives his dumb^ discerning train ; 
After a plain refreshment he revives. 
And to divert his tender offspring strives^ 
He drinks his pot of home-brew'd ale, and smokes 
A cheerful pipe, — tells twenty merry jokes ; 
And lives as pleasantly as richer folks. 
His little children climb, in sweet amaze, 
About his neck ; and, while they fondly gaze, 
With innocent delight his stories hear, 
And quite impatient of th' event appear. 
To please him is the good wife's chief employ ; 
Her early comfort, and her evening joy. 
With faithful love, and innocent delight, 
The day's fatigue is recompensed at night. 

* Any farmer or shepherd. 



} 



( 24 ) 

Thus chequer'd is their life — they daily share, 
True pleasure mingled with a frugal care. 

When reeds scarce rustle with the balmy breeze, 
Soft as the humming sounds of distant bees ; 
When of the sun a long extended blaze, 
Upon the water's quiv'ring surface plays ; 
And, when beyond the golden verge of day. 
Mild evenings their soft, dusky wings display ; 
Sometimes the flagelet, or violin's strains. 
Invite the nymphs to dance upon the plains ; 
Who graceful on the level verdure move 
In varied measures — innocence and love 
Dilate their spirits ; while the cooling breeze. 
That gently whispers through th' embow'ring trees. 
Their flowing garments swell — fans ev'ry breast. 
And wanton sighs on ev'ry rising chest. 
Exulting joy, with love, in soft disguise. 
Distends their hearts, and flashes in their eyes. 
Promiscuous cheerfulness they all display, 
And quite forget the labours of the day. 

In higher life, the evenings often pass. 
With a gay pipe and recreating glass ; 
In sober mirth, improving, blythe and gay, 
The happy minutes sweetly glide away. 
From hospitality new ardours rise. 
And sparkling wine the distant sun supplies. 
A train of brisk diversions crown the day. 
And cheerful nights in pleasure steal away. 



( 25 ) 

Each hand's employ'd, while thus an hour we pass ; 
While one supports the pipe, one fills the glass. 
A copious bowl the shaggy leaf contains ; 
A pendant* globe the oily moisture drains : 
A suction bland the glowing weed obeys. 
And through a spiral tube the blast conveys. 
Th' expanding vapour spreads o'er all the room. 
And warms its bosom with a rich perfume. 

Hail useful weed ! a treasure not the least. 
To thought most friendly — grateful to the taste ! 
Besides thy healing influence and use, 
Thou add'st a flavour to the purple juice. 

When Boreas spreads with sleet the stiff'ning plains, 
And seizes nature in its icy chains ; 
The sprightly youth their sportive task renew 
Th' enliv'ning, though laborious, course pursue ; 
And track the footsteps of the circling hare, 
Nipp'd with the keenness of the freezing air. 
Yet exercise gives — colour to the skin. 
Warmth to the vital streams that flow within ; 
Strength to the sinews, vigour to the nerves. 
And all the system properly preserves. 

With poles equipp'd, the nimble lads convene. 
And in light habits all approach the scene. 
A sense of joy their speaking eyes proclaim, 
And all impatient seem to start the game, 

* This description is designed for a glass pipe. 



( 26 ) 

O'er hills and vales, and through th' awaken'd woods, 
O'er dreary wilds, and through meandering floods, 
With every nerve the hardy swain pursues, 
And eagerness of toil his strength renews. 
Many a shift poor puss is forc'd to make, 
Yet few the circles she's allow'd to take. 
Adhesive to the track, the grey-hounds bend. 
Arid to her heels their lengthen'd snouts extend ; 
While she, uncertain whether caught or no. 
Springs from the gripe, and cheats the treach'rous foe. 
So close they bear upon the flying prey, 
With fear — with force o'ercome, she dies away. 
Unfairly press'd, the sharp-nos'd murd'rers seize 
Th' unequal match'd — the meanly destin'd prize. 

When early twilight temperate is found, 
And neither frost nor floods oppress the ground ; 
Hunting, the first of rural brisk delights, 
To manly toils the youthful breast invites. 

Proceed, my muse, the generous task pursue. 
From Crantford-Field take thy unbounded view ; 
In^ graphic lays declare what pleasures reign, 
And what diversions crowd the lively scene ! 

Here, when the rosy dawn brings on the day. 
And blended sweets appear in foliage gay, 
(Ere Sol or Myra leave their balmy bed. 
While pleasing dreams amuse each female's head ; 
While o'er their pillows soft chimeras creep. 
And make them smile at conquests in their sleep). 



( 27 ) 

In search of game here lively sportsmen meet, 
And every bush, and every furrow beat ; 
Explore the latent tracts of every field, 
Try what the lawns and what the coverts yield. 

When the skill'd huntsman, after a survey. 
Of each purlieu, has singled out his prey ; 
Soon as the rustling of the shrubs she hears. 
And quick advancing steps, puss pricks her ears, 
Hark, hark to Tunewell, hark ! Away she goes. 
And makes a scoff of her insulting foes. 
When sweet-tongued Ruler leads the crying crew, 
How fleet and close do all the rest pursue ! 

Hot-steaming Driver, Silver, Darling, Taller, 
Vocif'rate Jowler, Favrite, Coral, Rattler ; 
Fortune and Violet, Toss-pot, Fumy, Tipler, 
Careless and Blossom, Merry-lass and Fiddler ; 
Ttilip and Wanton, Damsel, jftmo, Bowman, 
Cupid diYid Dido, Tanjier, Lady, Rowman ; 
Quick-scented Flora, Comely, Light-foot, Nancy ; 
Phcenix and Seamstress, Ruby, Tulip, Dancy ; 
Whipster and Cloudy ; and, to crown the scene, 
Let us bring Doxy, and old Piper in. 
The tawny group is too prolix for rhyme. 
And too encroaching on my reader's time. 

The frighten'd wand'rer often shifts her rounds. 
To shun the malice of the greedy hounds ; 
Who now in vain their rage and speed renew, 
In vain the distant, doubling hare pursue. 



( 28 ) 

The magic horn calls in the long-ear'd pack, 
Unrav'ling by degrees her faithless track. 
To fenny marshes then their course they bend, 
And o'er the vast expanse their voice extend, 
When puss the harriers hard behind her spies, 
Couched on the sod, in doubt she closely lies ; 
And, as they, tufting,^ sweep along the field. 
She squatting, lies beneath the fern conceal'd : 
Then straight makes off to some adjacent moss. 
The dogs o'ershoot their game and come t'a loss. 
As they're call'd back, the busy huntsman lights, 
To prick the puss, and put Jus dogs to rights ; 
First draws his hounds a compass round about, 
Then strictly beats the grotmd, to ti'ead her out. 

Forbear, my muse, to tell the sportsman's fears. 
Or what dejection in his looks appears ; 
What great impatience labours in his breast ; 
What peevish doubts his longing heart molest : 
But gently condescend to hide his grief, 
And soothe his mind with unforeseen relief. 

Now, while the dogs are thus upon the scent. 
They all disperse, to try the way she went. 
The snarling pack, being cast to search about. 
Staunch Rockwood hunts the grotmd, and finds her out. 
Some happy eye takes up the distant game, 
With loud holloos from every voice proclaim. 

■^ When an hound, holding up his nose, takes the scent of 
corn, fern, rushes, or heath. 



( 29 ) 

When thus we have the dear recovery made^ 
In ev'ry face a cheerful air's display'd, 
Hoaks, Jiark to imcsic — ev'ry vale rebounds, 
And to tJie finders throw off all the hoinids. 
The distant rocks obey the jovial cries, 
'Midst thickets, which in gay confusion rise. 
The steady dogs are branching"^ all around ; 
Reverberating hills the shouts rebound. 
The valleys speak with voices not their own ; 
And echo answers in a fainter tone. 
In vain to climb the rugged heights she tries, 
In vain to covert from the dogs she flies ; 
While in full cry they all increase her dread. 
And hard behind the foaming horses tread. 
Tracer for scent, and Spie renown'd for speed, 
Black-foot and Climb-cliff, all of Wiltshire breed, 
With eager haste pursue the tim'rous prey ; 
And, sweeping on, or find or make a way : 
Until with stiff'ning limbs the fainting hare. 
Run fairly down, in death dissolves her fear. 
The foremost rider triumphs in the prize, 
And strikes with joyful shouts the vaulted skies. 
From ev'ry wound springs forth a purple flood. 
Spouts in his face, and stains his hands with blood. 
Then the tir'd Imriters all abate their speed ; 
And by the vocal tube her death's decreed. 

* When an hound, holding up his nose, takes the scent of a 
tree or shrub. 



( 30 ) 

The jolly huntsman, loaded with the slain, 
Returns in triumph from the echoing plain. 

How far superior are the rural sports, 
To ease inglorious, or the toil of courts ! 
From these proceeds an indolence supine. 
From those arises all that's masculine. 
When verdant glades afford a lively hue, 
And the gay lawns are spangled o'er with dew ; 
Soon as the glance from mild Aurora's eyes, 
With crimson smiles adorns the streaky skies : 
Fresh, hearty sportsmen, oft surround the wood. 
With tuneful horn, with hounds and hunters good ; 
Here storm the thicket and the craggy rocks, 
And soon unkennel here the wily fox.* 
The prowling cub starts furious from his den. 
And scorns the cries of dogs and shouts of men. 
The op'ning hounds are fir'd — they snuff and vent, 
And trace his footsteps, eager of the scent. 
With what prelusive joy they hail the morn. 
And with what harmony obey the horn. 
Thus rous'd, away the wakeful savage bounds, 
Until his ears have lost the wounding sounds. 
Exulting then he takes the distant moor. 
And in his cunning thinks himself secure. 

* N.B. The Chace, a Poem subjoined to an Essay intituled, 
The Pleasures and Advantages of Female Literatures, (printed 
in London, I74i> and to be sold by Messrs. Manby and Cox on 
Ltidgate Hill) was written by the same author. 



( 31 ) 

A froth besmears his grinning chops around, 
And, as he runs along, befoams the ground. 
Each hungry dog the length'ning chace pursues, 
And snuffs the vapour from the tainted dews ; 
Till, in united cry, they shoot away, 
And in full stretch bear on the bounding prey, 
Crowner and Rebel, Kilbticky Drunkard, Stroler, 
Topper and Ringwood, Plow7nan, Bouncer, Joler; 
Vulca?i and Thumper, Snowball, Rafiter, Gipsy ^ 
Farmer and Steamer, Trueman, Jilter, Tipsy ; 
Fine-spotted Dainty, Fill-pot, Jewel, Rover, 
With long-breath'd Ranger, Dancer, Beauty, Clover, 
And many others (all I cannot name). 
Still follow, with unequal pace, the game. 
With prick'd up ears, the hunters then renew. 
Instinctive courage, and the chace pursue. 
Their turgid nerves they swell, they snort and blow, 
And whitening foam upon the verdure throw. 
The woods, the valleys, and the concave sky, 
Both earth and air are fill'd with harmony. 
When once poor Reynard sees himself inclos'd, 
By horses, men, and hostile dogs oppos'd ; 
When thus he finds his dangers all renew'd, 
By all forsaken, and by foes pursu'd. 
Strait to the stream (when neither speed nor force. 
Nor all his craft avail) he bends his course. 
Even there the dogs pursue him through the flood. 
And nought will quench their thirst but Reynard's 
blood ; 



( 32 ) 

" Who J like a felon, conscious of his guilt, 

" Is fore' d to bleed, where he much blood hath spilt! 

The deep-tun'd horn his sentence then declares, 

And Reynard to resist no longer dares. 

Indignant, with disdainful grin, he dies, 

And malice flashes from his fiery ^y^s. 

The Royal Sisters {h) visit oft these plains, 
And condescend to grace the sportive scenes. 
Soon as the mounting lark awakes the dawn, 
And sweetly warbles o'er the silver'd lawn ; 
Convening sportsmen with the cheerful horn, 
Alarm their dogs, and hail the rosy morn. 
The stag, from cover broke, begins to view 
The threat 'ning dangers, that his fears renew ; 
Still half amaz'd looks round, yet held by fear, 
Can scarce believe his enemies so near. 
He calls his strength and vigour to his aid ; 
But yet his fears more powerfully persuade. 
Being thus betray'd, the dire alarm he takes,' 
And his unfaithful keeper straight forsakes. 
Enrag'd away he bounds, or rather flies, 
A while pursu'd but by the hunter's eyes. 
All view the game with envy from afar. 
Eager to follow in the sylvan war. 
Melodious op'nings charm the sportsmen's ears, 
Sweeter than all the music of the spheres. 
Royal Amelia {i) — goddess of the plain. 
Begin the chace, and crown the joyous scene 1 



( 33 ) 

When to the field this graceful princess leads 
A youthful train of honourable maids ; 
And troops of lovely dames are seen to ride, 
In form and shape majestic by her side ; 

Amelia princess of that lovely train, 

From all the rest must adoration gain ; 

Such graces through her whole demeanour shine, 

In beauty — majesty — and air divine. 

The stag {k) thus singled from the butting throng, 
With all his strength united, sweeps along. 
Resolv'd the paths of danger now to tread. 
At his scorn'd shelter shakes his beamy head ; 
Which, like a tree with leafless branches drest. 
Bespeaks the boldness rising in his breast : 
But soon — too soon his wav'ring spirits droop, 
And he to coward fear resigns all hope. 
He starts — consults his feet — and, gazing round. 
He turns his dappled face to every sound. 
The gath'ring noise invades his wakeful ears ; 
The shouts of men, with dogs, increase his fears. 
Against the breeze he darts, or seems to fly ; 
But still pursu'd by the malicious cry. 
Bursts through the thickets — glances through the 

woods. 
And plunges deep into the widest floods. 
Deafen'd and stunn'd with the promiscuous noise, 
The kennel's concert all his peace annoys ; 

3 



( 34 ) 

Till he at length to rudest shades repairs, 

To seek for safety, and to soothe his cares. 

Now, though the greedy dogs him overtake, 

" Yet save his life for fair Amelia's sake!' 

In this retirement let him live conceal'd. 

Until his strength — until his fears be heal'd : 

Leave him among his savage slaves to rove. 

While all the herd obedient to him move ; 

" There let him think again on empire and on love.' 

When the diversions of the field are o'er, 
And exercise fatigues than pleases more ; 
Convey me, goddess, to the western end 
Of Hounslow Town — to see a worthy friend. 
There all excesses are alike disdain'd ; 
With ease polite, there all are entertain'd. 
With calm delight, and pity hence we view, 
The gloomy cares that busy men pursue ; 
Where each by diff'rent ways attempts to gain. 
Uncertain happiness with certain pain : 
Whilst we, serene, th' exalted raptures know. 
Which from content, and sweet retirement flow. 
Here female management its worth displays ; 
Here just economy demands our praise. i 

Clara! propitious to my pleasing toil. 
Let me your gentle ear engage a while ; 
Let me with truth — with decent pride extol, 
What even envy dares not flatt'ry call ! 



( 35 ) 

In soft assemblage joln'd, your virtues shine ; 

They grace my song — inspirit every Hne. 

With fame unblemish'd ; with the tend'rest breast, 

Studious to heal the cares of the distrest ; 

With cheerful ease you ev'ry sorrow calm, 

And to their well search'd wounds apply the balm ; 

On true beneficence your thoughts employ, 

To make the hopeless heart exult for joy. 

In you the human graces all unite 

All in your conduct glow with beauteous light. 

If candour, and sincerity of mind, 

With ease polite — with piety refin'd, 

With friendship affable — benevolence, 

With wit — with goodness, and with social sense, 

With ev'ry excellence approv'd above. 

Can claim esteem, and universal love ; 

Can crown your sex with honours all mature, 

Can present peace and future bliss secure ; 

Just is your challenge to fair virtue's fame. 

And to eternal joys as just your claim. 

The twisted horn, with bold enlivening strains, 
Here wakes the echoes from the distant plains. 
The voice, spinnet, bass, violin, and flute. 
In tones concordant one another suit. 
Each busy hand, their sev'ral parts assign'd, 
Fill up the choir, in harmony combin'd. 
The pliant quills, and bright metallic strings. 
Obey the gentle touch while Celia sings ; 

3—2 



( 36 ) 

And, while her flying fingers touch the lyre, 
The mellow notes seraphic joys inspire. 
Fix'd in each breast the flowing concord dwells, 
And ev'ry faculty with rapture swells. 
United breathes such soul-dissolving airs, 
That ev'ry list'ning heart forgets all cares. 
Her warbling voice deceives the feasted ear, 
We think her singing still, and listen still to hear. 

Meanwhile the sire his well-tun'd fiddle tries, 
Commands the changing notes to fall and rise : 
The trembling chords transportingly obey, 
And charm the ears with each melodious lay : 
The thrilling, sprightly sounds, that some create, 
Others more hoarse responsively repeat. 
The soft, the shrill, the deep, the slow. 
In sweet variety of numbers flow. 
Each swelling tone inflicts a pleasing wound, 
And ev'ry fair drinks in th' inspiring sound. 
The nice compulsion all disarm'd obey. 
And drive our cares in pure delight away. 
All by confed'rate symphonies impart. 
Such modulated airs, to warm the heart, 
As shake the passions, from the various string. 
And joy extatic to each organ bring. 
Sweetly confus'd, our friendly transports rise. 
Start from their tongue and kindle in our eyes. 
Our spirits, through the new-strung nerves refine, 
And dart ideas to the soul — divine. 



( 37 ) 

Celestial raptures harmony reveals — 
Enchanting music's force all nature feels. 
Each thrilling grace attracts our ravish'd ears, 
And by degrees alleviates all our cares : 
The num'rous strains so sweetly pleasing flow, 
In all our minds there's not a place for woe. 
Music, delightful, glides into the soul. 
Elates the spirits — ravishes the whole : 
Refines the passions, and extends the heart, 
Awak'ning ev'ry nerve with strokes of art. 
O'er all the scene joy spreads her golden wings, 
And ev'ry overture new rapture brings. 

At length a jocund bottle crowns the day, 
To keep our spirits debonair and gay. 
Again we traverse o'er the sylvan scene, 
>The game revive and kill it o'er again. 
With sprightly glee promiscuously relate, 
How clean our hunters leap'd o'er such a gate ; 
How hard they drove — how light they trod the moor. 
How bold we rid, and in our course how sure ; 
Soon as uncoupled, how they spread abroad, 
To try his scent each dog a diff'rent road ; 
When/2/^.y first left her seat,"^ what shifts she made. 
How long she dodg'd, how with the hounds she play'd. 
How oft she squatted, and what means she found, 
To bring her back to her accustom'd ground ; 

■* The place where a hare sits in the day-time, is called her 
seat or form. 



( 38 ) 

How close sometimes the doubling jade did lie, 
Until the dewlap'd dogs had pass'd her by ; 
How she to her relief {a) skulk'd to h&r: form, 
How Sporter thrust her tip from 'midst the corn ; 
How such an harle {b) of hounds a vaunt-lay {c) made, 
O'er the crotills {d) how other bablers [e) play'd ; 
How oft the dogs were forc'd to hunt the foil (/"). 
How oft puss vaulted, {g) and how oft took soil ; (li) 
How Blueman ij) ran the heel, {k) how Piper baivVd, 
How Rival flour is Ji d (/) when the scent was cold ; 
How Captain cried the game {m), how Whipster led, 
Maugre the heavy tj^ash {n) so near his head. 

{a) The place where a hare keeps all night is called her relief. 

{b) A couple and a half, or a pair of couples ; two of them 
buckled together is an harle of hounds. 

{c) When hounds are thrown off at game, before other hounds 
that are hunting the same game come up, it is called a vaunt-lay. 

{d) The ordure or dung of an hare. 

{e) Hounds that give their mouths too busily, and not upon 
the scent. 

if) When hounds hunt where they have run before. 

{g) Going to earth in a rock or hole. 

{h) When a hare goes into the water. 

(z) When a hound runs the scent backward, meaning the 
contrary way, he runs the heel or runs counter. 

{k) When a hound gives his mouth, going to the field or in the 
field, before he has found the scent, he bawls. 

(/) When a hound feels a cold scent, and does not cry it, he 
flourishes. 

{m) When a hound first finds the scent and opens, he cries it, 
or challenges it. 

(«) Any thing fastened to the neck of a fleet hound in the 



( 39 ) 

This gives a relish to th' impurpled juice, 
That gently flows through ev'ry vital sluice. 
With correspondent fires our bosoms move : 
We end the night as we began, in love. 
Thus free from strife, corroding care, and noise, 
Retirement feasts us with untainted joys. 



time of his hunting, to abate his speed, and make him keep 
company with slower hounds. A piece of stiff leather, tied to a 
coller, makes a good trash. 







BOOKS printed for the AUTHOR. 

1. AN Essay on the Existence of a God, published, 
■^~*' price IS. 6d. all sold. . 

2. An History of the State of Man, with regard to 
Religion and Morals ; from the beginning of the World 
to the Reformation : sold by Messrs, Manby and Cox 
on Litdgate Hill, and T. Gardfier at Cowley s Head 
in the Strand^ Price 4^. unbound. 

3. A Letter of genteel and moral Advice, to a 
young Lady, &c., the 5th Edition, price \s, 6d. un- 
bound ; sold by Charles Hitch, in Paternoster Row. 

4. An Essay on the Pleasures and Advantages of 
Female Literature. Price is. sold by Messrs. Manby 
and Cox on Ludgate Hill. 

5. The Humours of the Black Dog, approved by 
the late eminent DEAN SWIFT, the loth edition, 
after seventeen thousand being sold, price ^d., ready 
for the press. 

6. Rural Felicity compared with Public Life ; a 
Doric poem, ready for the press, price is. 

All these books are sold by the Author. 



NOTES. 




Note (a) p. 9. 
HIS was Archibald, third Duke of Argyle. He lived at 
Whitton Place, which he planted and enclosed from 
the Heath, and though contemptuously called "a 
tree-monger" by Horace Walpole, he introduced 
many foreign trees and shrubs into this country, which by the 
beauty of their forms and colours have greatly contributed to 
the pleasing effect of the English landscape. From an old en- 
graved plan of Whitton, in my possession, it was surrounded on 
all sides by the Heath, but the east, where the Duke had his 
nursery. Almost every tree at Whitton was raised from seed, 
planted by the Duke in 1 724. And we can have, from that cir- 
cumstance, a very good idea of the growth of trees according to 
their age. The girths of the two largest cedars at Mr. Gostling's 
in 1 8 10, at three feet from the ground, were exactly eleven feet 
four inches. In the part then rented by Mr. Hobhouse, one 
cedar measured twelve feet one inch and a half, another eleven 
feet eleven inches. On the plan is the horizontal wind-engine 
for raising the water which then surrounded the grounds. The 
Gothic tower, erected by the Duke, the fish ponds, bowling 
green, orange walk, aviary, &c., are all laid down with careful 
precision. The circular spot planted with trees in the old nur- 
sery, on the right hand side of the road leading to Hounslow 



( 42 ) 

from Whitton, is called the Rabbit Warren, and in its centre 
was a Chinese summer-house. After the Duke's death, the 
estate was purchased by George Gostling, Esq., a Proctor of 
Doctors Commons, who divided the pleasure grounds, and sold 
the part containing the late Duke's house, to Sir William Cham- 
bers, the well known architect of Somerset House. The noble 
conservatory built by the Duke was then converted into the 
elegant villa now known as Whitton House, upon the pediment 
of which is a bas relief after the antique, representing the des- 
truction of the Titans by Jupiter. It was executed by Dere, an 
artist of great promise, who, alas ! died too young to take his 
place in the annals of fame. After the decease of Sir William 
Chambers, Whitton Place was inhabited for a time by Sir B. 
Hobhouse, M.P. At last Mr. Gostling re-purchased the part of 
the estate formerly sold by him, pulled down Whitton Place, re- 
serving Whitton House as his residence. 

Before the Duke attained to his highest title, he was known as 
the Marquis of I slay, and the following epigram upon him, on 
cutting a vista at Whitton, was written by Horace Walpole : — 

" Old I slay to show his fine delicate taste 

In improving his gardens purloined from the waste, 

Bade his gardener one day to open his views, 

By cutting a couple of grand avenues. 

No particular prospect his lordship intended, 

But left it to chance how his walks should be ended. 

With transport and joy he beheld his first view end 

In a favourite prospect— a church that was ruined. 

But alas ! what a sight did the next cut exhibit — 

At the end of the Avalk hung a rogue on a gibbet. 

He beheld it and wept, for it caused him to muse on 

Full many a Campbell that died with his shoes on. 

All amazed and aghast at the ominous scene, 

He ordered it quick to be closed up again 

With a clump of Scotch firs, that served for a screen." 



( 43 ) 

In early life Sir William Chambers made a voyage to China, 
and he was ever after impressed with the beauties of the Chinese 
style of gardening. With these views he built the Pagoda in 
Kew Gardens, and wrote a Dissertation on OrientalXja7'dening. 
This was enough for the wits of the day, and there immediately 
afterwards appeared. An Heroic Epistle to Sir William Chain- 
bers, Knight, Coinptroller General of His Majesty s Works, and 
Author of a late Dissertation on Oriental Gardening, en7'iched 
with explanatory Notes, chiefly extracted from that elaborate 
Perfoi'inance. This, we know now, was written by Mason, and 
in it we find the following lines : — 

" Now to our lawns of dalliance and delight, 
Join we the groves of horror and affright ; 
This to achieve, no foreign aids we try, 
Thy gibbets, Bagshot, shall our wants supply ; 
Hounslow, whose heath sublimer terror fills, 
Shall with her gibbets lend her powder mills." 

The explanatory^ note extracted from Sir Wilham Chambers's 
Dissertation, and applied to these lines is : — 

"Their scenes of terror are composed of gloomy woods, &c., 
gibbets, crosses, wheels, and the whole apparatus of torture are 
seen from the roads. Here, too, they conceal in cavities, on the 
summits of the highest mountains, founderies, lime-kilns, and 
glass works, which send forth large volumes of flame, and con- 
tinued columns of thick smoke, that give to these mountains the 
appearance of volcanoes." To this the satirist adds : — " Now, 
to produce both these effects, viz., the appearance of volcanoes 
and earthquakes, we have here substituted the occasional explo- 
sion of a powder mill, which (if there be not too much simplicity 
in the contrivance) it is apprehended will at once answer all the 
purposes of lime-kilns and electrical machines, and imitate 
thunder and the explosions of cannon into the bargain." 

We learn from Brewer's Middlesex that one powder mill at 



( 44 ) 

Hounslow was thrice blown np, killing fourteen people, in the 
year 1 796. And it is with grief, we are compelled to say, that 
the Hounslow Powder Mills still maintain their unenviable noto- 
riety for frequent and fatal explosions. 

We see from Rocque's Map of Middlesex, published in 1754, 
shortly after this poem was written, that the gibbets stood on 
the point of land formed by the junction of the Bath and Staines 
roads. Wilkes, however, had too much taste to introduce into' 
his poem such disagreeable subjects as gibbets. In the first 
volume of the Asylum for Fugitive Pieces, published in 1785, 
there is the following : — 

Familiar Verses addressed to two Young Gentlemen 
AT THE Hounslow Academy. 

" Take notice, roguelings, I prohibit. 
Your walking underneath yon gibbet ; 
Have you not heard, my Httle ones, 
Of Raw Head and Bloody Bofies f 
How do you know but that there fellow. 
May step down quick, and you up swallow ?" 

The Academy at Hounslow was held in Albemarle House, 
where the boys always had the humanising spectacle of the 
gibbet before their eyes. There is an engraving extant of it, a 
copy of which is in the British Museum. It is dated in 1804, 
when all England was in arms to resist the threatened invasion 
of Buonaparte, and represents a spacious play-ground at the 
back of the house, with all the boys exercising as volunteers. 

Though Hounslow Heath was a noted place for highwaymen, 
many persons were brought there and gibbeted, whose crimes 
and punishments had taken place at far distant places. Thus, 
one Theodore Gardelle, a native of Geneva, and an artist, who 
committed a horrible murder on his landlady, a Mrs. King in 
Leicester Square, and attempted to dispose of the body under 



( 45 ) 

revolting circumstances, was hanged in the Haymarket, close to 
Panton Street, and his body was taken down on the same day, 
the 4th of April, 1761, and hung in chains on Hounslow Heath. 
The gibbets were at last removed on account of the passage 
of the royal family this way to Windsor. We cannot tell the 
exact date, but it was previous to 1809, when Hughson's Circuit 
of London was published. 

Note (^), p. 15. 
I have often fondly thought that the two old elms, still stand- 
ing opposite the Bell public-house, were the remnants of those 
trees. But Wilkes expressly states that they were " behind the 
town ;" and according to Rocque's Map of 1 754, they were about 
thirty yards down the Bell Lane on the way to Whitton. 

Note (^r), p. 16. 
James Earl of Berkeley, Vice Admiral of Great Britain. 

Note {d), p. 18. 
This was Samuel Underbill, whose death is recorded in the 
London Magazine, as occurring on the i8th September, 1762. 
The " nitrous grain " was then, as it still is, a dread nearer homxC 
than to " treacherous France," or " boastful Spain." A cutting 
of an old newspaper, in my possession, of the 29th of December, 
1 75 8, relates that about twelve o'clock at night, a store of gun- 
powder at the mills belonging to Samuel Underbill, Esq., took 
fire. The quantity of powder then drying was great, consisting 
of seventeen hundredweight, and the explosion was extremely 
violent and alarming, insomuch that Mr. Underbill's dwelhng- 
house was considerably damaged, though at near three hundred 
yards distance from the works. 

Note {e), p. 19. 
The site of the race-course is clearly laid down on Rocque's 
map of Middlesex. It was on the left of the Staines road, a 
short distance from the Bell public-house. Many notices of the 



( 46 ) 

races at Hounslow are found in the newspapers of the last cen- 
tury, as the following, from ih.^ Evening Post of July 20, 1734: — 

" On Thursday last, seven horses started at the races on 
Hounslow Heath, viz., Mr. Clarke's mare Fair Rosamond, 
Mr. Riley's horse White Stockings^ Mr. How's horse Stradler, 
Mr. Clavering's horse Hannless, Mr. Pathson's mare Milk?naid, 
Mr. Major's horse Squirrel, and Mr. Selby's mare Molly Mogg, 
for the Give and Take Purse, which was won by Mr. Riley's 
White Stockings. They ran three heats ; Mr. Riley's horse 
won the first and last heats, and Mr. Clarke's Fair Rosamond 
got the second heat, and broke her leg running the last heat. 
Mr. Pathson's grey mare Milk7naid, and Mr. Major's black horse 
Squirrel, were distanced the first heat." 

On July 23rd, 1 734, in the same paper we may read that : — 

" On Friday at the races on Hounslow Heath, five horses 
started for the Purse of ^^20, viz., Mr. Smith's chesnut mare 
Favourite, Mr. Newman's bay horse Dimple, Mr. Lawrence's 
bay mare Penelope, Sir Rowland Symond's black horse Jubilee 
Dick, and the Lord Anne Hamilton's mare, who was entered at 
the post, and won the plate." 

Lord Anne Hamilton was a curious instance of a feminine 
name being attached to a man ; he was christened after Queen 
Anne. 

" On Saturday, at the said races, five horses started for the 
Hunter's ^20 Purse, viz., Mr. Hammond's chesnut horse 
Foreigner, Mr. Proctor's grey horse Cairless Tom, Mr. Colvin's 
bay gelding Splint, Mr. Upson's sorrel gelding Fox Hunter, 
and Mr. Newman's bay mare Silver Hair, which was won with 
great ease by Mr. Colvin's bay gelding." 

Note (/), p. 21. 
The moorcock (Tetrao tetrix) is not now, nor has it been for 
many years, a native of the Heath. Though there may be found 



( 47 ) 

a few specimens of the bird on the Surrey Hills, their nearest 
habitat is Hampshire, 

Note {g), p. 22. 
Wilkes has here taken the whole idea from Thomson, and ex- 
pressed it in almost the very same words as the poet of the 
Seasons, who says : — 

" Rous'd by the cock, the soon-clad shepherd leaves, 
His mossy cottage, where with Peace he dwells ; 
And from the crowded fold, in order, drives 
His flock, to taste the verdure of the morn." 

Thomson wa^ then alive at Richmond, or had just died. 

Note {h), p. 32. 
The Princess Amelia and Caroline, daughters of George the 
Second. In 1733, they brought the well of Islington Spa, then 
called New Tunbridge Wells, into fashion, from their going 
thither to drink the waters. In the HiLnioiirs of New Tunh'idge 
Wells, the poet asks in astonishment what has brought such 
great company there : — 

" Whence comes it that the shining great, 
To titles born and awful state, 

Thus condescend, thus check their will ; 
And scud away to Tunbridge Wells, 
To mix with vulgar beaux and belles ? 
Ye sages your famed glasses raise, 
Survey this meteor's dazzling blaze, 
And say portends it good or ill." 

In a short poem, called Modern Diversions, published in the 
Universal Magazine, 1753, there is the following verse : — 

" To operas, assemblies, 
Or to a masquerade, 
New Tunbridge, or to Kendal House, 
And this shall be the trade. 



' ( 48 ) 

We'll sally out to breakfast, 

And hear the fiddlers play ;] 

And there we'll revel, feast, and dance, 

And make a merry day. 

For a roving we will go, will go, will go, 
For a roving we will go." 

In the Daily Advertiser of April 4, 1750, we find the following 
notice of Kendal House : — 

" For certain, Kendal House, Isleworth, near Brentford, Mid- 
dlesex, eight miles from London, will open for breakfasting on 
Monday, the i6th inst. The long room, for dancing is upwards 
of sixty feet long, and wide in proportion ; all the other rooms 
are elegantly fitted up. The orchestra on the water is allowed 
by all that have seen it, to be in the genteelest taste, being built 
an octagon, in the Corinthian order, above fifty feet diameter, 
having an upper and a lower gallery, where gentlemen and ladies 
may divert themselves with fishing, the canal being well stocked 
with tench, carp, and all sorts of fish, in great plenty ; near 
which are two wildernesses, with delightful rural walks ; and 
through the garden runs a rapid river, shaded with a pleasant 
grove of trees, with various walks so designed by nature, that in 
the hottest days of summer you are secured from the heat of the 
sun. This small but just account of the place falls greatly short 
of its real beauties. Great care will be taken to keep out all 
disorderly people. There is a man-cook, and a good larder ; 
all things as cheap or cheaper than at any place of the kind. 
Public breakfasts are held on Wednesdays and Fridays." 

There is a Perspective View of Kendall House, near Isleworth, 
drawn by Chatelain in 1756, in the British Museum. It repre- 
sents, most probably, one of these grand public breakfast days. 
A large orchestra, filled with musicians, is discoursing sweet 
music, while a number of ladies and gentlemen, the former 
dressed in hoops and sacs, are walking about ; some amusing 
themselves with fishing. 



( 49 ) 

The site of Kendal House is well known. It was on the north 
side of the road leading from Twickenham to London ; and was 
so called from having been the residence of Madame Schulen- 
berg, one of the mistresses of George I., who created her 
Duchess of Kendal. It was in this house that the " Maypole," 
as this chaste addition to our English aristocracy was irreve- 
rently called by the people, fancied that she was visited by the 
ghost of the King, in the form of a raven. 

There was an earlier house, however, of the same description, 
opened at Isleworth. From a cutting of the General Evening 
Post, May, 1734, in my possession, I extract the following ad- 
vertisement : — 

" Isleworth Assembly. 

" Held last year at Dunton House in Isleworth, will begin this 
year on Wednesday, the 29th of May, and continue every Wed- 
nesday during the season. Subscriptions are taken at Dunton 
House. 

" N.B. — No persons will be admitted unless introduced by a 
subscriber." 

The site of Dunton House I have been unable to discover ; it 
most probably took its name from a Richard Downton, who, 
from a minute of the vestry of Isleworth parish, received with 
his wife in 1661, a license to eat flesh in Lent for the " recovery 
of their health." And a monument to his second son, also 
called Richard Downton, who died in 171 1, is on the north wall 
of Isleworth Church. 

Note (/), p. 32. 

The Princess Amelia, daughter of George II., was born at the 
palace of Herenhausen in Hanover, in 1711, and died, the last 
survivor of his children, in 1786. She was very fond of hunting, 
and all her tastes being decidedly masculine, it is said that she 
spent the greater part of the time in her stables. She never 
married, but she carried on a strong flirtation with Charles Fitz- 
roy, the second Duke of Richmond, and grandson of Charles II. 

4 



( 50 ) 

They were in the constant habit of hunting together three days 
in the week during the season, and the princess gave great offence 
to her mother Queen CaroHne, by retiring with the duke on one 
occasion from the hunting-field to a house in Windsor Forest, 
where they remained long enough to afford ground for scandal. 
Later in life she seems to have half unsexed herself by the 
masculine tastes that she had imbibed, and the strange attire 
which she wore. There is at Hardwicke in Derbyshire, a por- 
trait of her, in a round hat and laced coat, which it is difficult 
to believe could have been intended for a woman. Her great 
nephew, George the Fourth, when Prince of Wales, used to relate 
a rather amusing anecdote at her expense. One cold day, he 
said, he was driving with Lord Clermont in the neighbourhood 
of Bagshot, when the singular appearance of the Irish Earl, who 
was wrapped up in a white great-coat and a kind of flannel hood 
over his head, so nearly resembled that of the Princess, that he 
was occasionally mistaken for her by the persons who met them 
on the road. More than once the princess overheard the follow- 
ing remark : — " What a kind young man the prince must be to 
be so attentive to his deaf old aunt !" 

For as she increased in years she became exceedingly deaf 
and short-sighted, but as Walpole observes, such was the natural 
quickness of her perceptions that she seemed to hear and see 
l^etter than those whom she conversed with. She never went to 
Court after George III. succeeded to the throne, who hated her 
with all the energy his weak mind was capable of. Her great 
weakness was high play at cards, and she may have exclaimed 
with the poet : — 

" At the groom porter's battered bullies play ; 
Some dukes at Mary Bone bowl time away. 
But who the bowl, or rattling dice compares. 
To Basset's heavenly joys, and pleasing cares." 

This penchant rendered her especially obnoxious to the mother 



( SI ) 

of George III., who used to bitterly complain of her sister-in-law 
for playing publicly for such high stakes at the rooms at Bath. 
But Amelia, if she did play cards in a public room, never allowed 
the slightest encroachment on her dignity, as a great king's 
daughter. On one occasion, when playing at Bath, a general 
officer, with presumptive ill-breeding, took a pinch of snuff out 
of her enormous gold snuff-box, which constantly lay open on 
the table beside her. The Princess, in a very pointed manner, 
showed her sense of the liberty thus taken by desiring one of her 
attendants to throw the box with its contents into the fire. 

A contemporary of the Princess, one Mr. Perkins, writing from 
Bath to Lord Chancellor Hard wick, in 1752, says :— 

" Her Royal Highness is very affable and civil ; comes to the 
room at noon, and sometimes at nights, and plays at cards there, 
chiefly commerce. She takes all opportunities, when fair, of get- 
ting on horseback, and amuses herself almost every day some 
hours in angling in the river, in a summer-house by the river 
side in the garden, formerly known by the name of Harrison's 
Walks, which has two fire-places in it ; and to secure her against 
cold, puts on a riding-habit and a black velvet postilion's cap 
tied under her chin." 

Note ( ^ ), p. 33- 

Hounslow Heath was a favourite hunting ground for the royal 
family, in George the Second's time, as the following newspaper 
cuttings in my possession amply testify. 

" Yesterday morning their Majesties, the Prince of Wales, the 
Duke, and eldest Princesses, went to Hounslow Heath, v/here a 
stag being turned out at the starting-post, afforded them a plea- 
sant chase for several hours, and taking cross the country to- 
wards Hertfordshire, their Majesties followed as far as Harrow- 
on-the-Hill, and then came back to Kensington, which they did 
without their attendants, having lost them in the chase. Their 
Royal Highnesses the Prince, and Duke, pursued the stag, and 
did not return till late in the afternoon." — August^ 1734. 

4—2 



tf^^ 



( 52 ) 

" On Saturday morning, their Majesties and the rest of the 
royal family went again to Hounslow Heath, where a stag was 
turned out, which took much the same way as that which was 
hunted on Wednesday, and was killed near Canons, the seat of 
his Grace the Duke of Chandos. Their Royal Highnesses the 
Prince and Duke were in at the death, but their Majesties had 
quitted the chase some time before." — Sep/. 1734. 

" Yesterday morning, about nine o'clock, their Majesties and 
the rest of the royal family went from Kensington to Hounslow 
Heath, where a stag was turned out at the starting-post, which 
ran directly to Staines ; but being turned, came back as far as 
Brentford, where he crossed the Thames, and re-crossing at 
Hampton Town, ran through Staines, and there again crossed 
the water twice, and was killed about half-an-hour after three 
at Water Oakley, near Windsor. Their Majesties gave out at 
Thorp, about a mile from Staines, after following him about 
thirty miles ; but their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Duke 
were in at the death. — SepL 1734. 




HOUNSLOW CHURCH. 




jT is difficult to rightly determine the et}'- 
mology of Hounslow. In ancient records 
it is written Honeslawe, Hundeslaw, and 
Hunslow, and as it, with the adjacent 
country, was part of the Warren, or Forest of Staines, 
which extended from the rivers Colne to Brent, it is 
highly probable that at this place was an establish- 
ment for keeping the hounds that hunted in the forest. 
Hundes in the Saxon language signifying hounds, 
thence the spot was called Hundeslow, the hounds 
place, or Hundeslea, the hounds plain, which in process 
of time was corrupted into Hounslow, We may add 
that Honeslaw was one of the Six Hundreds of Mid- 
dlesex enumerated in Domesday Book. 

At an early period an hospital was founded here 
for Friars of the Order of the Holy Trinity. Their 
peculiar office being to solicit alms to be employed in 
the ransom of Christians taken captive by the Infi- 



( 54 ) 

dels.* The term by which they were best known was 
that of the Trinitarian Brothers of Redemption, while 
in France they were generally termed Mathiirins, after 
the name of their founder, Jean Matha, a native of 
Provence. Soon after the order was instituted, a 
house of it was set up in England, for I find that the 
Ministers and Brethren of the Hospital of Hundeslaw 
had letters of protection granted to them by King 
John. The hospital shared the fate of other Roman 
Catholic establishments at the Reformation, and it 
being a lesser monastery, whose revenues were under 
two hundred pounds per annum, it was by Act of Par- 
liament surrendered to the king. 

I need not trouble myself, here, with the history of 
this hospital previous to the Reformation, but I may 
just relate an anecdote connected with a curious his- 
torical fact, very illustrative of the ancient manners 
and customs. 

Clement Maydestone, a friar of this House, wrote a 
history of the martyrdom of Richard Scrope, Arch- 
bishop of York, to whom he had been a retainer. 

* The custom of taking and retaining in captivity Christians, 
by the Infidel states of Northern Africa, was carried on to a 
much later period than is generally supposed. In Applebe^s 
Jotirnal of the 9th December, 1 721, we read that 

" The Enghsh captives, who have been redeemed by the late 
treaty made with the King of Fez, to the number of two hundred 
and eighty persons, marched in their Moorish habits and in good 
order, through a great part of the city to the cathedral of St. 
Paul's, to return thanks to Almighty God for their redemption 
from captivity," 



( 55 ) 

Though there was somewhat of sharp practice used 
against the bishop, by inducing him to disband his 
army, a story Avhich Shakespeare tells very well, he 
was really decollated for treason, and there was no 
question of mart5/rdom about the business. But the 
manner of the introduction to Maydestone's story of 
the burial of Henry IV. may be quoted here, as it is 
illustrative of the custom of receiving the wayfarer to 
the hospitalities of the friars' board, and the story was 
long believed to be perfectly true. 

"After the death of this king, a wonderful event 
occurred declaratory of the glory of the above named 
Lord Archbishop Richard, and commending it to 
memory for ever. For in less than thirty days after 
the death of Henry IV., there came a certain man of 
his household to the House of the Holy Trinity at 
Hundeslaw for refreshment. And while they were 
conversing at dinner about the righteousness of that 
king's manners, the man said to a certain esquire 
named Thomas Maydestone, who was sitting with 
him at the table : ' God knows whether he was a good 
man ; but this I know for certain, that while his body 
was being conveyed in a small vessel from West- 
minster towards Canterbury to be buried there, I was 
one of three men, who threw the corpse into the river 
between Barking and Gravesend.' 

" ' And,' he added with an oath, ' such a storm of 
wind fell upon us, and tjie waves run so high, that 
many nobles, who followed us in eight small ships. 



( 56 ) 

were scarcely saved from death, their fleet of vessels 
having been dispersed by the storm. But we, who 
were with the body, being in peril of our lives, by 
common consent threw it into the river, and imme- 
diately there fell a great calm. But the chest, covered 
with cloth of gold, in which the body had lain, we 
carried with great honour into Canterbury, and buried 
it. Therefore the monks of Canterbury may say, that 
the sepulchre of King Henry IV. is with us, not his 
body ; as also said Peter of the holy Davidj in the 
second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.' God 
Almighty is witness and judge that I, Clement Mayde- 
stone, saw that man, and heard him swear to my 
father, Thomas Maydestone, that all that he said was 
true." 

The manuscript, written in Latin, from which the 
above quotation has been translated, is entitled His- 
toria Mariyrii Ricardi Scrope Archiepiscopi Eboracensis, 
and is preserved in the library of Corpus Christi Col- 
lege, Cambridge. But the part I have here quoted 
was printed by Peck in his Desiderata Ctcriosa, under 
the title of Testimonium Clemenetis Maydestone quod 
Regis Henrici IV., corpus fuit in Thamesin projectum 
et non tumulati'in Cantuarice. 

The whole manuscript was subsequently printed by 
Wharton In his Anglia Sacra, and it was long a desi- 
deratum among antiquaries to test the truth of the 
story, by an actual examination of the coffin. The 
royal tomb was accordingly opened in August, 1832, 



( 57 ) 

in the presence of the Lord Bishop of Oxford, the 
Dean of Canterbury, and others, and the remains of 
the king was found in his coffin. This disposed at 
once of the truth of the story told by Maydestone ; 
and an account of the examination of the tomb, 
written by the Rev. Dr. Spry, will be found in the 
twenty-sixth volume of the ArchcBologia. And, in 
fact, Maydestone may be called an interested witness, 
as ready to depreciate the character of the king, as he 
was to extol the honour of his master, whom he was 
convinced was wrongly executed. And a man whose 
prejudices would represent a punishment for high 
treason as a martyrdom, and the king's body being 
thrown into the Thames as a judgment from Heaven, 
would not hesitate to publish the story, far and wide, 
even if he did not really invent it, as a proof of divine 
interposition, in honour of his patron's memory. 

At the Reformation, the Manor of Hounslow and 
the site of the Hospital having been annexed by 
Henry VHI. to the Honour of Hampton Court, were 
leased in 1539 to Richard Awnsham, Esq., for twenty- 
one years; and by Edward VI., in 1553, to William 
Parr, Marquis of Northampton, for the samxe term, 
commencing after the expiration of Awnsham's lease. 
In 1557, the reversion of the said premises, consisting 
of the Friars House, one hundred and seventeen acres 
of land, with appurtenances, together with the fair, 
market, court-leet, &c., was sold for the sum of 
;^905 13s. 4d., to William, Lord Windsor, whose son, 



( 58 ) 

Edward, Lord Windsor, in 1571, sold the hospital and 
all its appurtenances, with the demesne lands, to 
Anthony Roan, Esq., the Queen's Auditor, for the 
sum of ;^300, reserving to himself the manor, with the 
right of holding courts in the great hall of the manor 
house, and an annual rent of £\Jy Mr. Roan also 
binding himself to keep in good repair the tombs of 
the Windsor family buried in the chapel of the ancient 
hospital or Friars House. 

The Windsors, who lived at Stanwell, buried at 
Hounslow long before they purchased the manor with 
the chapel. For Andrews, Lord Windsor, by his will, 
dated March 26th, 1543, writing himself Andrews 
Windsor, of Stanwell, Knight, Lord Windsor, "^ orders 
his body to be buried : — 

" In the choir of the church of the Holy Trinity of Hounslow, 
in the said county of Middlesex, whether he deceases within the 
said realm of England or without, if by any reasonable means 
he could be conveyed thither, and to be placed between the 
pillars where his entire well-beloved wife, Elizabeth, Lady Wind- 
sore, lieth buried ; and that there be made a convenient tomb of 
free stone, with such arms, images, and scriptures, as shall be 
thought best by the discretion of his executors .; hkewise that 
his son George's tomb be also finished. That his said burial 
may be done according to his degree, with such clothing to his 
household servants, and such mourners as shall be appointed by 
his executors, and to none others. And that, at the day of his 
interment, there be twenty-four torches and four great tapers 
about his hearse, to be holden by twenty-eight poor men, every 

* He sat in the House of Lords as Baron Windsor, of Braden- 
ham, in Buckinghamshire. 



( 59 ) 

torch weighing sixteen pounds, and every taper containing 
twelve pounds, every of the poor men, which must belong to the 
parish of Stanwell, to have sixpence and a gown of frieze." 

When Lysons wrote In 1795, there were no vestiges 
remaining of a tomb to any of the Windsor family, 
but on the outside of the chapel, towards the road, 
there was an escutcheon with their arm.s — a saltier 
between twelve crosslets. This escutcheon is now 
placed on the south wall of Hounslow Church. 
Weever, however, in 1630, took this fragment of an in- 
scription, which is preserved in his Ftcneral Monii- 
ments. 

"Orate pro animabus Georgii Windsore, filii Andrii Wind- 
sore de Stanwell, militis, et Ursule uxoris ejus. ..." 

I may say here that Weever also notices a tomb at 
Hounslow to one William Jacob, who gave a close, 
called Bushiheme, to buy a lamp for the chapel. 
The inscription is as follows, and the Leonine verses 
which term.inate it are very curious examples of their 
kind : — 

" Orate pro anima Willelmi Jacob qui dedit unam clausarum 
vocatam Bushiheme ad inveniandam unam lampadem. . , . qui 
ob . . . 1478. 

'■ Vermibus hie donor, et sic ostendere conor, 
Oualiter hie ponor, ponitur omnis honor, 
Quisquis ades tu morte cades ota respice plora 
Sum quod eris, quod es ipse fui pro me preeor ora." 

Could Bushiheme, from this very circumstance, 
have subsequently taken the name of Lampton, which 



( 60 ) 

belongs to a district in the neighbourhood at the pre- 
sent day ? 

But to return to Queen EHzabeth's auditor, Anthony 
Roan, we find by a pedigree in the Harleian Manu- 
scripts, that he was living at Hounslow towards the 
close of her reign. The manor of Hounslow and its 
appurtenances then went through a long series of 
the vicissitudes that ever attend landed property, till 
at last, in the year 1705, it was bought by Whitelock 
Bulstrode, Esq. From him, who died in 1724, it 
descended to his grandson, Richard Bulstrode, Esq., 
whose widow became the lady of the manor. At her 
death it went to Gardner Bulstrode, a distant relation 
and a bachelor. This gentleman, who died in 1822, 
bequeathed it in trust to be sold, the proceeds to be 
laid out in stock, the dividends to be paid to his sister 
Elizabeth during her natural life, and afterwards in 
trust to pay certain legacies amounting to between 
nine and ten thousand pounds, (including £1000 to 
the British and Foreign Bible Society, and a like sum 
to the Worcester Infirmary), and the residue to the 
five daughters of Mrs. Catherine Newsham of Chelsea, 
daughter of the said Elizabeth, who were all married. 
When the mansion at Hounslow, as well as the manor 
with its immunities were sold, Mrs. Newsham's sons- 
in-law, viz., James Minns, Esq., of Harrow ; James 
Eades, Esq., of Sevenoaks ; John Willesford, Esq., of 
Chelsea ; John Nichols, Esq., of the same place ; and 
George Edwards, Esq., of Birmingham ; purchased 



( 6i ) 

the latter as tenants in common, and I believe they 
still retain it, receiving the tolls at the fair. 

All the Bulstrode property, in this neighbourhood, 
was sold in the year 1818 to Thomas Cane, Esq. 

There is not a vestige of the ancient manor house 
extant, more than the wall in front of it, which runs a 
short distance up Lampton Lane. Nor do I think 
that it has ever been engraved, as all my researches to 
obtain a view of it have been utterly unavailable. 

When Mr. Lysons wrote in 1795, the only remain- 
ing part of the hospital was the chapel, which I have 
engraved from his Envh^ons, as a frontispiece to this 
little brochwe. The interior comprised a chancel, 
nave, and south aisle. It exhibited evident traces of 
the architecture that prevailed in the early part of the 
thirteenth century, particularly in its stone stalls, three 
of which were to be seen in the south wall of the 
chancel, and a double piscina, with narrow pointed 
arches, divided by a column. This chapel, since the 
Reformation, has been used as a place of worship for 
the inhabitants of Hounslow, and the names of the 
curates or chaplains, as near as they can be made out, 
with the dates of their appointments, are here given : 



John Pight 


1561 


Samuel Rowles . . 


1669 


Milo Barrow .... 


1580 


John Godfrey . . . 


1715 


Samuel Hill .... 


1592 


Law. Brandreth . . 


1718 


Bradshaw . . 


1612 


J. W. Williams . . 


• 1742 


John Gainsforde . . . 


1615 


W. Fetherstone . . 


1742 


Ben. Geering . . . . 


1637 


Wetenhall Wilkes , 


. 1748 


Henry Walker . . . 


1664 


John Chapeau . . 


1772 


Joseph 


Benson 


. . . 1814. 





( 62 ) 

The chapel was repaired in 1705, by Whitelock 
Bulstrode, Esq., soon after his purchase of the manor ; 
and a great part of it was afterwards destroyed by 
fire, early in the seventeenth century, when it was 
restored by the assistance of a brief. Probably the 
restoration took place in 1710, for over the door of 
the old chapel there was a stone with the inscrip- 
tion — 




It is now placed in the vestry of the church. The 
present church being erected on the site of the 
ancient chapel, the greatest care was taken of the 
sacred relics of the dead, and any inscription, any 
sculptured stone pertaining thereto, was with the 
greatest of good feeling and good taste, built up in 
the new building. I may only mention, however, the 
monument of Whitelocke Bulstrode, which was 
attached to the north wall of the chancel, and is now 
placed at the east end of the north gallery in the 
present chapel ; it has the following inscription — 

In hac sua capella, in conditorio prope hoc marmor per 
seipsum structo, reliquias suas jacere voluit Whitelocke Bul- 
strode, Arm. Sacrse theologise amator, philosophise naturalis 



( 63 ) 

Gultor, justitias moderator ; animi caritate, morum probitate 
clarus, in suos amantissimus, in totum genus humanum benignus. 
Filius fuit Richardi Bulstrode, Militis, ad Bruxellas a regibus 
Carolo Secundo et Jacobo Secundo plurimis annis legati ; nepos 
Edwardi Bulstrode.de Soley-end, in Com, Warw. Arm., Wallis 
Septentrionalis Capital. Justic. pronepos Edwardi Bulstrode de 
Bulstrode in Com. Bucks. Arm. Obiit 27 die Novembris, anno 
Dom. 1724, ^tatis 74. M.S. patris benignissimi H.M.S, 

The ancient chapel and a small portion of the 
adjoining ground was purchased from the above- 
mentioned Mr. Cane, by the Rev. H. S. Trimmer, 
vicar of Heston, who generously presented it to the 
Church Society. And his Majesty's commissioners, 
under the act for building churches and chapels, 
agreed that if the neighbourhood would raise £2000, 
towards defraying the expense of building a new 
chapel, they would advance the remainder. Pope tells 
us that he 

" Who builds a church to God, and not to fame, 
Will never mark the marble with his name ;" 

so I am induced here to give the original names of the 
subscribers to Hounslow Chapel, from the old sub- 
scription list. 

£ '■ £ s. 

Duke of Northumberland 500 o Rev. J. Benson, D.D. 255 o 

Howley, Bishop of Lon- Rev. H. Glossop, vicar 

don .... ... 105 o oflsleworth . . . 200 o 

Rev. H. S. Trimmer . 303* o S. Adams, Esq. . . 10 o 

* This was not paid in money, but the ground and old mate- 
rials of the ancient chapel were considered as an equivalent. 



( 64 ) 





£ 


s. 




£ 


Andrews, Esq. . . 


' 5 





Mr. Gotelee ... 


5 


Miss Andrews . . 


2 





Mr. Gotelee, Jun. . 


I 


Jas. Aslett, Esq. . 


. lO 





Mr. Gough . . . 


I 


T,a,dy Banks . . . 


. 50 





Mr. Gray .... 


2 


Rev. J. S. Baron . 


2 


2 


Mr. J. W. Greenfield 


I 


Mr. Beckley . . . 


2 





Mrs. Hesketh . . 


. 70 


J. Bentall, Esq. . . 


5 





Mr. Hiscock . . . 


2 


Miss Bickham . . 


• 5 





R. Hope, Esq. . . 


• 5 


Mr. Body .... 


• 3 





R. How, Esq. . . 


, 100 


Mr. Boughton . . 


5 





Mr. Jennings . . 


• 5 


Mr. Bristow . . . 


10 





Mr. Lambourn . . 





Mr. W. Butler . . 


10 





W. Langdon, Esq, 


. 100 


Miss Butler . . . 


5 





Mr. Ledger . . . 


I 


G. Channer, Esq. . 


10 





Mr. Lidgold . . . 


. 10 


Mr. Charlton . . . 


5 


5 


Rev. J. Morgan . . 


5 


Col. Clitherow . . 


. 50 





T. Palmer, Esq. 


• 50 


W. Cole, Esq. . . 


. 10 





Rev. W. H. Parker 


. 10 


Mr. Coomes . . . 


3 





Mrs. Persley . . 


• 3 


Mr. Davis . . . 


5 





H. Pownall, Esq. . 


• 30 


W. Day, Esq. . . 


25 





Mrs. H. Pownall . 


20 


John Dixon, Esq. . 


20 





Mr. Sambrook . . 


I 


J. Ede, Esq. . . . 


10 





Mr. Slark .... 


5 


Mr. Eley .... 


I 


I 


J. W. Smith, Esq. . 


20 


H. Farnell, Esq. . . 


25 





Messrs. Stanbrough 


20 


Messrs. J. & C. Farnel] 


100 





J. Stanbrough, Esq. 


30 


Mr. FiUey ... 


5 





Mrs. Strange . . . 


I 


Mr. Franks . . . . 


30 





Mr. Such .... 


2 


R. A. Frogley, Esq. . 


20 





Mr. P. Walker . . 


10 


Mrs. Fish 


SO 





Mrs. Walker. . . . 


5 


Mrs. Gay . . . . 


2 





Mrs. Westbrook 


20 


Mr. George . . . 


I 





Messrs. White . . 


20 


Mr, Goddard. . . . 


5 





H. Wilkinson, Esq. 


20 


Mr. Goodchild . . . 


I 





J. Wilmot, Esq. . . . 


10 


Mrs. Gostling . . 


50 










The old chapel was pulled down, its materials were 



( 65 ) i 

sold, and the foundation stone of the present church 
was laid by the Duke of Northumberland, in June, 
1828 ; and it was completed and opened for divine 
service in July, 1829. In 1836 it was thought ex- 
pedient by his Majesty's Commissioners, to consoli- 
date the adjoining parts of the parishes of Heston and 
Isleworth into a distinct district, to be assigned to 
this church for all ecclesiastical purposes, under the 
name of the consolidated chapelry of Hounslow. The 
Bishop of London, as rector of Heston, has the patro- 
nage of this living, only two clergyman have been 
appointed to the church since it was built. The Rev. 
Joseph Benson, D.D.,^ who had for fourteen years 
been the clergyman of the old chapel ; and after him, 
the Rev. Edward East, M.A., our present worthy 
incumbent. 

* In my collection of prints there is an engraved portrait of 
the Rev. J. Benson, D.D., of Hounslow, fol, size, published 
in 185 1. 




HOUNSLOW HEATH. 




HE Heath has a great histoty, peculiarly 
its own, as a place for mustering and 
encamping the large armies formerly 
raised in England. Its contiguity to 
London, and its being on the way to Staines Bridge,"^ 
then the only bridge on the river, besides London 
Bridge, and the direct road to Portsmouth, then the 
usual place of embarkation, made it peculiarly eligible 
for mustering the armies employed by the kings of 
England ^to enforce their claims to the throne of 



* Three oak trees were granted by the Crown, out of Windsor 
Forest, in 1262, for the repair of Staines Bridge ; and I may 
observe here that the first gunpowder manufactured in England, 
was most probably on Hounslow Heath ; for a William of Staines 
was employed by Edward the Third, in 1346, to make the gun- 
powder which helped to gain the memorable battle of Cressy, 
the very first time that English cannon were used in war. 



( 6; ) 

France. Here also, in 1267, the Earl of Gloucester 
mustered his rebellious Londoners, and threatened to 
give battle to Henry HI., but found it expedient to 
withdraw before the arrival of the royal forces. Later 
still the army of Henry VH., marching to London, 
victors from the Field of Bosworth, and carrying with 
them the deadly pestilence of the sweating sickness, 
encamped on the Heath. In the Great Rebellion it 
was found very useful for a similar purpose. Charles 
the First, after the disastrous battle of Brentford, in 
1642, entrenched his troops there. In the very same 
year it was occupied by the Parliamentary army, 
commanded by the Earl of Essex. In 1647, the Par- 
liamentary forces under Sir Thomas Fairfax, v/ere 
assembled on the Heath, ta- the number of 20,000 
horse and foot, with a suitable train of artillery. A 
grand review took place here of the whole army, 
which was drawn up in battalions to the length of 
nearly a mile and a half, and the Speakers of both 
Houses of Parliament, together with most of the 
members, accompanied the general in a progress from 
regiment to regiment through the army, and were re- 
ceived with great acclamations. It was on the Heath, 
too, that James the Second raised his army, in the 
vain attempt to prostrate the liberties and religion of 
Englishmen. In the library of the Corporation of 
London, at Guildhall, there are three different Views 
of James the Second's Camp on Hounslow Heath. 
Qne is entitled — Aji Exact Prospect of the King's 

5—2 



( 68 ) 

Forces encamped on Hounslow Heathy 1686. It is a 
wood-cut. 

Another is, the Camp on Hounslow Heathy 1686. It 
is also a wood- cut, but has a letter-press descrip- 
tion. 

The third is. The Prospect of the Royal Army en- 
camped on Hounslow Heath. This is a copper-plate, 
engraved by Harris. 

In the first volume of Poems on Affairs of State^ 
there is sometimes found a very rare second part, with 
a different pagination, entitled State Poems continuedy 
in which there is one extremely severe on James, 
called Hounslow Heathy 1686. It is also severe on the 
poet Dryden, calling him — 

" Old Squab, the hungry bard that writes for pension." 

Mr. Wilkes seems not to have had an antiquarian 
turn of mind, for he does not allude to any of these 
camps in his poem ; not even to a camp that was 
formed on the Heath, in 1740, just a few years 
before he wrote. This camp was formed in June, 
under the command of Sir Charles Wills, and I may 
add a few jottings of it here from newspaper cuttings 
in my possession. 

" List of the General Officers and Forces under 
encampment. 
" Camp at Hounslow. — Sir Charles Wills, General ; 
Lord Mark Ker, Lieutenant-General ; — Cornwall, 



( 69 ) 

Major-General ; — Folliot, and the Earl of Albe- 
marle, Brigadiers. 

" Forces ordered to encamp under the command of 
Sir Charles Wills, on Hounslow Heath, are two troops 
of Horse Guards, one troop of Horse Grenadiers, and 
three regiments of foot consisting of seven battalions." 
— May 2^th, 1740. 

" It having been represented to his Majesty, that 
the troops that encamp on Hounslow Heath will not 
be able to support themselves with their present pay, 
orders are given that an allowance of a pound and a 
half of bread per day be delivered to each private 
sentinel, for which they are to pay no more than five 
farthings." — Jzme Jth, 1740. 

" The encampment on Hounslow Heath will cer- 
tainly take place to-morrow, to the great joy of all 
the towns and villages in the neighbourhood, which 
have for some days been so crowded with soldiers, 
both horse and foot, that some inns have had four or 
five and twenty quartered upon them at once. 

" We are assured that the prevailing reason for this 
camp is to instruct the new-raised men, and the young 
officers, in the nature of encampments, and not from 
any apprehensions of an invasion, as has been pre- 
tended. 

" The Right Hon. the Earl of Albemarle has hired 
the Warrener's house on Hounslow Heath, being near 



( 70 ) 

where his lordship's troop encamps, to reside in during 
the encampment." — June i^thy 1740. 

"Yesterday morning, the second troop of Horse 
Guards, commanded by his Grace the Duke of 
Marlborough, and the third troop commanded by the 
Earl of Albemarle; the first troop of Horse Grenadier 
Guards, commanded by General Dormer ; the first 
regiment of Foot Guards, commanded by General 
Wills ; the second commanded by his Royal High- 
ness the Duke of Cumberland ; and the third, com- 
manded by the Earl of Dunmore ; were reviewed in 
Hyde Park, by Sir Charles Wills, after which they 
marched for their encampment on Hounslow Heath." 
— June 19^/^, 1740. 

" The baggage and furniture belonging to his Royal 
Highness the Duke of Cumberland, was carried from 
St. James's to Hounslow, and last night his Royal 
Highness went thither and lay in his tent, where he 
designs to continue during the encampment there." 

I learn from another newspaper paragraph, that the 
tent was a magnificent one, containing several apart- 
ments, and cost one hundred pounds. 

" Yesterday his Royal Highness the Duke gave a 
grand entertainment to the officers encamped on 
Hounslow Heath ; great quantities of wine and pro- 
vision having been sent on Sunday night, from St. 
James's for that purpose. 

^'We hear that his Royal Highness the Duke of 



( 71 ) 

Cumberland, the Duke of Marlborough, the Earl of 
Albemarle, and Sir Charles Wills, intend to keep 
open tables in their tents during the encampment on 
Hounslow Heath. 

" Yesterday a train of artillery was carried through 
the city for the camp at Hounslow." — June 2^thy 
1740. 

The Royal Duke does not appear to have stopped 
long at the, camp, for I read, that — 

"Yesterday morning, the plate, &c., belonging to 
his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, was 
brought from his tent at Hounslow to St. James's, 
and the same evening his baggage, plate, &c., was 
carried from thence, under a strong guard, to Ports- 
mouth, his Highness being to set out on Saturday 
next for that place, in order to go as a volunteer on 
board the Victory, a first-rate, under the command 
of Sir John Norris." — July irdy 1740. 

It is, perhaps, too much the custom now to speak 
slightingly of the Duke of Cumberland, for the seve- 
rities he exercised upon the Highlanders after the 
battle of Culloden ; but his policy was really merciful, 
as it effectually prevented another rebellion, in favour 
of the Stuarts. The Duke, being the first prince of 
the Brunswick family who was born in England, 
piqued himself through life upon being an English- 
man. Riding out one morning to a review with his 



( 72 ) 

father, George II., when he was not above ten years of 
age, two officers, who admired the look of the young 
hero, could not resist exclaiming, " What a charming 
boy that is !" The young duke overheard them, and 
thinking they sdUd German instead of charming, turned 
round in a great heat and exclaimed, " 'Tis false, gen- 
tlemen ; I am am no German, I'm an English boy, 
and I beg you may never call me so again." 

" On Sunday night last two soldiers of the Second 
Regiment of Foot Guards strayed out of the camp at 
Hounslow into a farmer's ground adjacent, with a 
design to make free with some of his sheep, but the 
farmer's servant seeing them, shot one of them through 
the back that he instantly died, and wounded the 
other, so that his life is despaired of" — Jzdy 1st, 1740. 

" The soldier that was shot by a farmer's servant 
near Hounslow in a sheep robbery, and committed by 
Justice Clitheroe to Newgate for the same, is much 
amended since his commitment, and is in a fair way 
to the gallows." — July 5 //^, 1740. 

" On Sunday there was, as it is thought, above 
twenty thousand people to visit the camp at Hounslow, 
insomuch that it was a very difficult task for the sol- 
diers that stood sentinel to keep the mob from break- 
ing in upon the lines, and such crowds flocked down 
by water, that at one view might be seen two hundred 
boats on the river making for Isleworth stairs." 

Jtdy Zth, 1740. 



( 73 ) 

The " silent hig-hway" was maintained as a chan- 
nel of transport for both passengers and goods all 
along the valley of the Thames to a very late 
period. The watermen's fares from London to Wind- 
sor, and the intermediate places, was published so late 
as 1828. All the market garden produce then came 
to London by boat to Hungerford Market, and the 
peculiar boat used is engraved in Pyne's Microcosm^ 
where it is styled the "Battersea Gardener's Boat/' 
From Griffith's Essay on the jfurisdiction of the 
Thames, we learn that the fare from London to Isle- 
worth in 1746 was three and sixpence for a wherry 
that could contain eight passengers. If the passengers, 
however, numbered eight and elected to ^o by com- 
pany, as it was termed, their fare was only sixpence 
each. We learn, also, that the Windsor carriers then 
sailed twice a week from Queenhithe. In a Voyage 
Mp the Thames, published in 1738, there is an account 
of a public-house at Isleworth kept open all night, as 
a sort of night house, for the express accommodation 
of parties travelling by the Thames, "so that they 
should not fail of entertainment any hour of the night/' 
The writer tells us that — 

" In the rooms for the reception of all visitors, into 
which we were conducted, we found some hardship to 
get seats, and more to come near the hre ; but the 
mixed appearance of the company promised some 
diversion in recompense for that disappointment/' 

"From the camp at Hounslow we hear that the 



( 74 ) 

suttlers make a fine account of it there, by the great 
concourse of people that are continually flocking to 
see the novelty, though they have been put under a 
military contribution, if it may so be said ; and some 
of them, it is said, have been at above one hundred 
pounds expense for the liberty of suttling there." 

" Provisions of all sorts are at a high price in the 
camp at Hounslow, which being at present a novelty, 
the country come in on all sides, and prodigious crowds 
of people are every day upon the heath, from town as 
well as from adjacent parts. This encampment is 
likely to prove very expensive to the officers in en- 
tertainments, unless their friends will think proper to 
have some mercy on them, and be sparing of their 
visits." 

I may close my jottings of this camp with a tragical 
one, as follows : — 

" On Monday last died at Wimbledon, after a few 
days' illness, occasioned by a fright she took from the 
horses running away with her, when she was with her 
husband in a chaise at the camp at Hounslow, Mrs. 
Wills, wife to Captain Wills, nephew to the Right 
Honourable Sir Charles Wills, Knight of the Bath, 
and on Friday night her corpse is to be interred at 
Stanmore. Mrs. Wills was far gone with child when 
this unfortunate accident happened." 

This camp at Hounslow Heath created such an in- 
terest in the minds of the public that it was painted, 
and the picture became a popular exhibition ; this we 



( 75 ) 

learn from the following advertisement which appeared 
in the Daily Advertiser of March 13th, 1744 : — 

" To be seen, at One Shilling each Person, at the 
Swan, at the bottom of Hay Hill, Dover Street. 

"The Whole Prospect of the late Camp at HOUNS- 
LOW Heath, representing,- in proper Order, both 
Horse and Foot, every Officer in his proper Post, with 
the nicest distinction of both their Liveries and 
Colours ; in Proportion and Magnitude, representing 
Life nearer than anything of that kind hitherto in- 
vented. The Train of Artillery in its proper Deco- 
rum. 

" Note. — And it has been seen only by their Royal 
Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales. 

" To be seen from Nine in the Morning till Six in 
the Evening," 



THE END. 



y, a HotUn, 74 6- 75, PiccadUly. 



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